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“Pic of the Week”, May 31, 2019: LaFayette, Colorado
The small Colorado town of Lafayette is mostly a bedroom community for the cities of Denver and Boulder. Its roots are related to mining and it has a nice collection of restaurants and shops that we visited recently.
Here’s a few of the sights from a stroll around the town:
(Click on thumbnails to enlarge, right arrow to advance slideshow)
May 30, 2019
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.All Trips / North America / Western Canada / Yukon
Street Art in Whitehorse
While by no means a large city, with only around 25,000 residents, Whitehorse is the major population center in Canada’s Yukon Territories. This large territory (482,000 km2, 186,300 miles2) is home to only 37,000 people (and about 75,000 moose), so Whitehorse’s influence in the region becomes apparent.
Whitehorse is changing and it is growing. These changes are perhaps most notable to someone like me who hadn’t been there for nearly 20 years. An appreciated addition was a proliferation of street murals on the buildings of the city. These varied greatly in theme and style, but most of them in some way represented life in and the history of the north — notably …
Tagged art, street art, Whitehorse
.All Trips / Europe / Italy
A Day of Mosaics: Visiting Villa Romana del Casale, Sicily
I like to visit UNESCO World Heritage sites when travel allows because they are uniformly interesting. Villa del Casale is no exception as it has some of the best preserved and most extensive Roman mosaics anywhere. The place is situated off the main tourist path in the central hills of Sicily and was a little hard to find, but the lovely well-preserved floor mosaics make it worth a little effort to get to. It’s about 3 km from the town of Piazza Armerina.
Villa Romana del Casale was built in late Roman Empire, around the middle of the 4th Century AD, as a hunting lodge for a wealthy Roman (whose name is unknown). The overall architecture is similar to many villas …
.All Trips / Europe / Germany
Berlin’s unique Museum Island: a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Situated on an island in the Spree River, Berlin’s Museum Island (Museumsinsel) is home to five world-renowned museums. The space is shared with Berlin’s great Cathedral, the Berliner Dom. In 1999, the Museum Island complex was declared a UNESCO World Heritage.
The five museums on Museum Island are:
1) Pergamonmuseum (Pergamon Museum):
Opened in 1930 — the last museum on the island to open but also perhaps the greatest of these museums. This museum alone attracts around one million visitors every year and is currently under refurbishment. Its collection includes the Pergamon Altar and Ishtar Gate.
Bode Museum, Berlin’s Museum Island
2) Bode-Museum:
Opened at the northern tip of the island in 1904 and with a renovation completed in 2005. It has an …
Tagged architecture, art, Berlin, history, Museum Island, UNESCO World Heritage Site
“Pic of the Week”, October 12, 2018: The Waterfall at the Dubai Mall
One of the most impressive works of public art I’ve ever seen was in the world’s largest shopping mall, the Dubai Mall. Located close to the world’s tallest building (Burj Khalifi) and with views of it, are two cylindrical waterfalls that extend the full four story height (24 m) of the Mall structure.
All that flowing water seems out of place in the desert, but the sight and sound of it is beautiful and mesmerizing. To enhance the waterfalls are dozens of fiberglass figures giving the illusion of synchronized divers. This art work can be viewed from each level of the mall, and the perspective changes so take the escalator up all the floors and take it all in.
The fountains are …
Oct 11, 2018
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“Pic of the Week”, May 18, 2018: The Orangerie Museum, Paris
Situated adjacent to the Seine in the Jardin des Tuileries, not far from the Louvre, you’ll find a wonderful museum. It’s next to the Place de la Concord and is housed in the palace’s old orange-tree growing greenhouse (orangery), a building completed in 1852. The building is lovely, with some statues outside including one by Rodin, but it’s what’s inside that’s truly special.
The Orangerie museum is a 20th century art gallery and its best know pieces are a series of Monet water-lily paintings known as the Nymphéas which occupy much of the upper floor. Eight huge canvases of lilies are hung in two galleries, all painted by Monet when he was an old man beginning to lose his eyesight to cataracts. …
May 17, 2018
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“Pic of the Week”, May 4, 2018: Reclining Connected Forms, CityCenter
Who would have believed that Las Vegas, in its ongoing transformation, would become a center of fine public art? Certainly not yours truly, at least not until recently.
This is especially true at the $10 billion CityCenter, where part of the master plan included $40 million to purchase some world-class pieces. One of these is by English sculptor Henry Moore, a work called Reclining Connected Forms. It is one of several similar-styled pieces by the same artist found around the globe.
Here are some specifics: Crafted between 1969-1974 of Roman travertine marble. A massive piece measuring 10 x 17 x 7 feet. It is thought to represent a baby wrapped in its mother’s embrace.
You can find this work between ARIA Resort …
May 3, 2018
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.All Trips / Art / Central USA / Colorado / North America
A Sampler of Rocky Mountain Street Art
I’ve enjoyed many visits to the Colorado Rockies, mostly in the summer months as I like the weather and wildflowers that time of year. I love spending time in the mountains! There’s nothing more pleasant than going for a walk on a nice day on a wilderness trail or in a beautiful alpine town resting in a lovely valley, surrounded by majestic peaks.
During these strolls I’ve noticed an increased amount of street art displayed on the lanes and walkways of the tourist towns. A lot of the work is of high quality, mostly bronzes, many reflecting the mountain life. These photos include some of the street art I came across in Vail, Avon, Aspen and Leadville.
I hope you like …
